Soleil Des Hyenes

Fortnight 1977, Feature film, 1h40

Synopsis

Since their independence, Tunisia, Morocco, as many other countries, count very much on tourism to break away from under-development. For some time now, travel agencies have been deploying in their brochures the sun, the palm trees and the beaches of those countries. The international leisure salesmen, attracted by these products that offer sunshine and exotism, were not long in finding interest in these countries. « Sun of Hyenas » is a critical look at tourism as it is practiced in many under-deveoped countries. Developed for and by foreigners showing consumption patterns, this tourism, through it seasonal nature, helps to propagate the occidental way of life, and accelerates the destruction of traditional society, inducing servitude, segregation, corruption, prostitution… Last of all, the systematic exploitation of beautiful sites distort the landscape and disturbs the ecological balance of certain regions, seriously, endangering the future. Ridha BEHI

Director

Ridha Behi

Born in Tunisia in 1947, Ridha Behi was first assistant at the Tunisia television. Fron 1969 to 1970, he wrote and directed several short films. In 1973, he graduated in sociology in Paris. He directed in 1977 his first long feature, « Soleil des Hyènes ». From 1979 to 1983, he produced and directed a dozen documentary films.